


You Take the Breath Right Out of Me

by lovesnarf (snarfette)



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: 7 Days of Robron, Car Accident, Day 4, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Robron Days 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 10:18:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15265359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarfette/pseuds/lovesnarf
Summary: 7 Days of Robron, Day 4: ‘Breathe’“Breathe.”It was a simple command but something that felt like it required so much effort.“Aaron, look at me,” Robert said firmly. “Just breathe, okay?”





	You Take the Breath Right Out of Me

**Author's Note:**

> My first contribution to 7 Days of Robron.   
> As always, it’s lovely to hear what you think so please leave me some feedback.

~~~~“Breathe.”

It was a simple command but something that felt like it required so much effort.

“Aaron, look at me,” Robert said firmly. “Just breathe, okay?”

Aaron forced himself to focus on Robert, who was staring back at him with concern written all over his face.

In his head, Aaron briefly registered that Robert had gone into his protective, organised mode, and he couldn’t help but remember Robert using the same tone of voice when they’d been trapped in a car at the bottom of a lake. It was always cars with them, wasn’t it? 

Robert’s hands alternated between rubbing up and down Aaron’s thighs and squeezing Aaron’s hands which were curled into tightly clenched fists, shaking in his lap. He knew he was trembling, but Aaron couldn’t seem to stop. He was fighting a losing battle against the images that kept flashing through his head as he pictured Robert’s car being flipped over and over again.

His mind was creating something that wasn’t real, obviously. Robert was right in front of him, breathing and touching him and speaking to him carefully. But he couldn’t help but remember what had happened before, all those years ago. And he’d lost the person he loved that time: maybe not right away, but the accident that had paralysed Jackson had destroyed him and any chance of a future together they might have had. The life that Jackson wanted had ended that day whether or not it took months for his suffering to finally be over. And seeing Robert’s car get plowed into quite so terrifyingly right before his eyes had brought painful memories flooding back.

 

They’d been on their way back to the village, ready to be at home again after a couple of nights away. Robert had been on some conference in York and suggested that Aaron drove out to meet him in the evening so they could make the work-trip into something more pleasant. Aaron had wound him up, saying he knew that Robert just wanted a few nights peace so they could have a shag without having to rush because Liv might come home early or Seb would wake up needing something, and Robert had just looked at him as if to say, “And what’s your point exactly?”

So Aaron had driven over to York after he’d finished work a few days ago (because he wasn’t fooling anyone when he pretended that he wasn’t just as desperate to get Robert all on his own) and met Robert at the rather flashy hotel he’d booked into as a treat. At first, Aaron had tried to convince Robert to go on the train so they didn’t have to drive back separately, but Robert was so adamant that he wanted to drive, and loved his ridiculous car so much, that Aaron knew it had been a losing battle.

They’d left the hotel that morning, a little reluctantly as they didn’t want to give up their alone time, and travelled in convoy all the way back to the Dales. Aaron had fallen a little way behind Robert thanks to a slow-moving Peugeot on one of the twisty B-roads and just as he’d managed to overtake and pull back in, he’d seen a car come flying out of a junction as Robert was passing, catching his car with a glancing blow at the front corner.

Aaron was sure he’d screamed in fear as he’d helplessly watched Robert’s car spin and skid off the road and into a ditch.

He’d slammed his own brakes on and pulled up onto the grass verge, scrambling out of his car. His heart had been pounding, blood rushing in his ears, as he’d rushed towards where Robert’s car was stranded in the ditch. He’d been dreading what he was going to find, fearing the absolute worst. But then he’d staggered to a halt as he saw Robert clambering out of the ditch, brushing his jacket down, looking rather bewildered and pretty pissed off, but alive and apparently unhurt. 

He’d stared at him in sheer relief (and almost disbelief) for a long moment, trying to establish if he really was alright or if his brain was just showing him what he wanted to see, and then he’d collapsed to his knees in the long grass at the side of the road.

 

His heart was hammering in his chest and attempting to drag air into his lungs felt almost painful. He could feel the cold sweat on his face as his vision blurred around the edges, only just managing to keep Robert in focus. Robert who was hurrying towards him, his concern written all over his face.

Robert crouched in front of him, close enough to reach out and touch him. His large hands moved up and down his thighs firmly, almost like he was attempting to ground Aaron in the present, stop him floating away with his painful memories.

“Breathe.” Robert said. “Aaron, look at me. Just breathe, okay?”

“Rob?” Aaron gasped. His mind was still showing him flashes of a vehicle being flipped and rolled: he could almost hear the crunching of metal but he knew it wasn’t real. The past had collided with the present in his head, stealing his breath and bringing all of his fears into sharp focus.

“It’s alright,” Robert told him. “You’re okay. You’re going to be alright.”

Robert’s words were calming. His closeness, the fact that he was constantly touching Aaron, made it more real that he was actually unhurt. Without even noticing he was doing it, Aaron was beginning to mirror Robert’s breathing.

And then Aaron realised that Robert was the one who’d been in a car accident and he was consoling Aaron, instead of the other way around.

Tears pooled in his eyes suddenly. “I’m sorry,” he managed to say hoarsely. “I thought...I thought...you were...” He trailed off, unable to vocalise his terrible fears.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Robert said, using that soft voice he saved just for Aaron.

Aaron gripped his hand tightly. He was finally managing to pull in deep, steady breaths.

“I panicked,” he murmured, gazing up into Robert’s eyes.

“I’m alright,” Robert reassured him. It was like he could read Aaron’s mind. Then he leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to Aaron’s forehead. “Might need you to give me lift back home though,” he added as he leant back on his ankles and nodded his head in the direction of where his car was well and truly stranded in the ditch.

Aaron huffed out a breath, the relief obvious in something so simple. “‘m not letting you out of my sight,” he muttered as they both carefully stood up, Robert holding out a steadying hand to Aaron, obviously concerned that he might be wobbly on his feet after his panic.

Aaron’s eyes immediately roamed Robert’s body for injuries, but he looked remarkably unscathed. He reached up and brushed his hand across Robert’s cheek gently. “Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked.

Robert smiled softly at him and rubbed his chest. “Just a bit sore from where the seatbelt cut in. But I’m fine, honestly,” he added quickly when he saw the worry on Aaron’s face. “Pissed off more than anything. I mean, look at the state of my car.”

It was only when they were both on their feet that Aaron actually noticed the driver of the car that had hit Robert standing a little further along the road inspecting the damage to his own vehicle. He suddenly felt Robert tense beside him, and realised that Robert had noticed the other man too, before he went marching off towards the driver, and he knew it was going to be his turn to make sure Robert was breathing when he inevitably tore a strip off the other man.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m snarfettelove on tumblr.


End file.
